16th February 2017, 11:21

Demetriou plots Warrington downfall on return to England

Former Wakefield Trinity favourite is helping to plot the downfall of
Warrington Wolves in Saturday's Dacia World Club Series.

Sydney-born Demetriou spent virtually his entire playing career in England from 2002 to 2012, representing Lancashire Lynx, Rochdale Hornets, Widnes Vikings and Keighley Cougars as well as Wakefield, for whom he made 188 Super League appearances, and he began his coaching career with Keighley before returning to Australia.

Now he is assistant to England head coach Wayne Bennett at Brisbane and will be helping them to prepare for the clash with the Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

"It is great to be back," Demetriou, 41, told the Brisbane website. "I am feeling the cold a bit but it has brought back a lot of fond memories.

"You let the players know about the atmosphere and the noise that will come - Warrington will make a lot of noise.

"Their English-based players will be up for this and they will be coming hard."

Demetriou stressed the match was in essence a pre-season trial for the Queensland outfit, who play their opening NRL match against champions Cronulla Sharks on March 2.

"We are still in pre-season mode and have two or three weeks until the season starts so we have a lot still to work on," he said from the team's London camp.

"But we have to be mindful that the players have done a lot of travelling and are out of their routine.

"There are different climates and different grounds and all that comes into play.

"But at the end of the day there is a job to do and they have to perform and do that.

"We need to keep building our game and understand who we are and who we want to be for 2017.

"It's about going into that game and getting some confidence we can take into round one."

Brisbane will train at the Honourable Artillery Company in central London before moving north on Thursday, when Bennett is due to hold his first press conference in his capacity as England coach since the end of the Four Nations Series last October.

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